Korea's Growing Appetite for Fast Foods

The increasing numbers of fast food "kingdoms" within America appear to be a prevalent issue and concern. This major concern appears to have leaked into Korea; fast foods from McDonalds or Burger King are being constantly imported into the contry, with obesity rapidly on the rise. It seems almost ironic that a nation so concerned about reconstructing outer beauty to what is considered "ideal", even through eating disorders, would have problems dealing with the other extreme as well, such as over-eating the suggested amounts of fats contained in fast foods.

When I was browsing through Chosunilbo for any interesting articles I could write about, I found one called Obesity Becomes Huge Problem in Korea (here's the link if anyone is interested: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502130020.html). Im Ho-Jun, the author of the article, states, "Some 10 to 15 percent of people under 20 are overweight... 30.6 percent of adults were overweight and 36.2 percent suffered from abdominal obesity." This was slightly shocking to me, because I always had the impression that Korea mainly had a diet concentrated around healthy foods, that also had had numerous healthy benefits. For instance, I remember learning that kimchi helped heart problems concerning cholesterol (through garlic). With this newly learned percentage of obesity, however, my intial impression of a healthy Korea was slightly diminished. When further reading through Im Ho-Jun's article, I also found that Koreans spent an amount equivilent to approximately 1.43 billion USD in the year 2005, solely for medical treatments or problems concerning obesity. The government of Korea has yet to view this increasing rate of obesity as a major concern, however, as they have not yet considered it as any threat to the nation.

In a more recent article by Chosunilbo called No Trans Fat Does Not Mean No Worry, however, it explains that Korea has begun to take action to promote healthier living for the citizens of its nation. Major fast food and bakery companies such as Orion and Crown Bakery had rung in the new year (2007) with a ban on trans fats. What Chosunilbo is concerned about in its article, however, is that saturated fats have now taken the place of trans fat; they argue that these saturated fats can eventually become just as dangerous as trans fats quoting a Dr. Ha Jae-ho that, "Consumers should pay attention to more than just the amount of trans fat in their foods."

I personally believe that there is no possible way to completely eliminate harmful fats from anyone's diets. It is inevitable that even without fast foods or baked goods Korea would on the whole still continue consuming these harmful fats. However, I do agree that action taken against the rise of obesity wouldn't hurt Korea as a nation.